So you’ve written a book, and maybe even gotten it published. What now?

If you’re ready to dive into some Christian book marketing, then I highly recommend you take the time to connect with Sandy and her team over at Celebrate Lit Publicity Group.

They are an awesome team to work with as a Christian book blogger, and I know many established and aspiring authors agree that Christian book marketing has become so much less stressful since they connected up with Celebrate Lit!

Please note that this post contains affiliate links for your convenience. If you make a purchase through one of the links, I may make a small commission. I only recommend books and resources that I’ve enjoyed personally, or believe that you would like. You can read my full disclosure here. You will also find information on Scripture translations there.

Celebrate Lit: Christian Book Marketing

When I started this book blog, I assumed that I would have to buy or borrow books to review. But conveniently (God’s timing, maybe?), one of my favorite authors shared something about this Christian book publicity group that needed book reviewers. My first tour was a look at Lydia in the Bible through Biblical fiction (my favorite!!). It didn’t take long to start over- “booking” my schedule!! I guess that means that Celebrate Lit is really good at Christian book marketing, huh?

Here are a few of the best past Celebrate Lit Publicity tours I’ve gotten to share with you:

• Shelter of the Most High (Biblical Fiction)
• The Arrow Bringer (Allegory/Fantasy/YA)
• Hashtag Rogue (Contemporary Mystery/Biblical Convictions)
• Restoring Fairhaven and the rest of the Independence Islands Books (Contemporary Romance)

Inside a Christian Book Marketing Agency

I had a chance to interview the founder of Celebrate Lit Christian Book Publicity Group, and I think you will enjoy reading it! She makes Christian book marketing sound like the best job ever!

We would love to hear a little about you, Sandy!

Sandra Barela was awarded her master’s in English from Southern New Hampshire University. During her program, she took a publishing class and fell in love with the industry. That infatuation sparked Celebrate Lit Publicity Group where she helps authors publicize their books through Facebook parties and blog tours. In the summer of 2016, she opened Celebrate Lit Publishing to help Christian authors bring their books to the reading world. The avid Christian fiction reader and author enjoys helping other great Christian authors succeed, one book at a time. You can visit Sandra on the Celebrate Lit website or on Facebook.

What inspired you to set up a Christian book marketing group?

I have always been an avid reader. When my kids were young, I would ask my family/husband to buy my books for my birthday, anniversary, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, and anytime else I had the opportunity. I would painstakingly look through the CBD magazine (this was before Amazon was big) to choose books. It was always disappointing when I would get a book that was lackluster. I would talk to my reader friends about it and they felt the same way. About 8 years ago, a friend recommended I started a blog so I did.

About seven years ago, I got sick and had to take a medical retirement at 38 years old. I didn’t want to do nothing for the rest of my life so I went back to school to do a second masters degree in English with a focus on Creative Writing and Publishing. Part of my publishing courses were to study about publicity/marketing and I fell in love with it!

How did you get started with Christian Book Marketing?

Through my blogging, I had met a lot of wonderful Christian authors. About the time I was doing my marketing classes, an author friend of mine was trying to do a book tour but couldn’t afford the $1500 to do it. I looked over what it entailed and thought, “I could do this and put my own spin on it”. Part of that spin was having a landing page where the blog stops could be posted for readers to follow.

My daughter, Denise, was in her Bachelor’s of English program and thought it would be fun to help. The tour was a success and Celebrate Lit was born. Denise and I decided then and there that if we were to do this, we wanted it to be a ministry to help authors. Last year, we brought my other daughter, Kelsey, onto the team. It has been such a great blessing to get to work with amazing authors and publishers as well as my daughters!

What was one of the most surprising things you learned, working with Christian Authors?

When I was doing my master’s program through a public, secular, university, much was emphasized about how cutthroat the industry is. What a wonderful surprise it was to work with Christian Authors who wanted to help other authors and truly enjoyed doing it!

Hardest thing?

It is really hard to see great Christian authors struggle to get sales to make ends meet. So many have to work another job and work on their manuscripts outside of that job. If I was rich, I would be a patron so they could just focus on their writing 🙂

Your favorite part of Christian Book Publicity?

Getting to know wonderful Christian authors and bloggers. They have truly become like a family to me.

Interested in joining the Christian Book Publicity/Reviewer Family? Click here for more information!

What is it like, being a Mother / Daughters team Christian book marketing agency?

It is amazing to be able to do this with my two daughters. We work really well together! Denise and I have been able to attend conferences together which has been so much fun!

Christian Book Publicity & Publishing

Someone reading this wants to set up a Christian book marketing campaign for their new book through Celebrate Lit. How do they get started?

They can email us celebratelit@celebratelit.com and if they mention this post, they will be eligible for a special scholarship!

And there is a full list of Author Services available here!

One last thing, did I hear you are now publishing books also?

We do! There’s a Christian book publicity arm and a publishing arm. We have many exciting books coming to Celebrate Lit Publishing. You can learn more on our website or Facebook Page.

Thank you for having me on your blog today. I appreciate all you do for authors and to support Celebrate Lit!

Thank you Sandy, for sharing with us! It’s wonderful how well you’ve taken to “When God closes a door, he opens a window!” It’s an encouragement to me, and hopefully to many others!

More Tools for Aspiring Writers and Authors

Aspiring writers need more than just a wonderful publicity and marketing plan. There are other tools that will make all the difference in reach, sales, etc.

Social Media is a big part of reaching people, and Jessie Synan is one of the best people I know to get advice from on the topic. Her goal is to teach us how Discipling Digitally can be successful. Not just expanding your reach, but spreading the Gospel in ways that don’t turn people off before you even get started. Making connections.

Increasing Your Christian Book Marketing Reach as Aspiring Authors /Bloggers:

If you have read this far, chances are pretty good that you care about sharing Jesus, and extending the reach of the Good News through Christian book marketing (and other methods).

I would like to take just another minute of your time to show you something. Last summer, I discovered LeeAnn Fox’s (AFFORDABLE) Blogging courses. Kingdom Bloggers Acadamy. I made the investment and put in some effort.

In less than a year my site traffic has quadrupled!!!! This site is showing up on page one of Google searches!

Because I’m a homeschooling housewife, blogging is only a small piece of my time. I can only imagine the growth if I had been making this my top priority!

• Update, As of May 2020, I’m now getting over 100 views from Google traffic per day, where I was once excited to get 5 in a week!

Specific Christian Blogging Courses to Consider for Aspiring Writers, to Expand Your Reach

After seeing the results from taking these courses personally, I became an affiliate. But honestly, I would be talking about it anyway!

If you are a Christian blogger or author, I want you to see these 2 courses. I want to highlight for you the Blog Audit, and SEO for Christian Bloggers.

Blog Audit

First, the Blog Audit: LeeAnn will go in and spend time exploring your blog. Then, she sends you a document with constructive and positive suggestions for improvement.

AND, a video of her navigating your site, and making those suggestions come to life. Mine was 30 minutes long, and answered several frustrations that I had, that I could not figure out how to fix. It was Awesome!!

SEO for Christian Bloggers

(SEO=Search Engine Optimization=Getting Found on Search!!)

This course, SEO for Christian Bloggers, will take you through

• Backend SEO-behind the scenes stuff you wouldn’t think of
• On-page SEO-the visible stuff that makes your post more appealing
• Keyword Research-you can’t just pick a word and go!!
• Pinterest SEO-on your site, and on Pinterest
• and more…

I hope you’ll consider these courses because it’s a really good feeling to look up and see “More of Jesus on Page 1!”

Readers Special!!!

Use code “LIBRARY30” to get 30% off Kingdom Bloggers Acadamy Courses!!

This discount will apply to the SEO for Christian Bloggers Course, Blog Audits, and for enrollment in the Christian Bloggers Boot Camp, which is a guided experience through the SEO for Christian Bloggers Course (next class starts in Jan/Feb).

If you are interested, here are more helpful Christian Blogging Tips!

Truly looking forward to Celebrating Christian Literature with you guys for as long as they’ll have me! Celebrate Lit’s Christian Book Publicity tours are so much fun!

Christian Book Marketing Made Simple

If you’re an author, I hope give Celebrate Lit Christian Book Publicity / Publishing a chance. These ladies are great to work with! Celebrate Lit’s Christian book marketing strategies take so much of the stress out of the process!

And if you’re a book blogger, looking for a family to share great books with, Celebrate Lit’s Christian book marketing means we get free books to read, and friends to share them with!

Until Next Time, Love God, Love Books, Shine The Light!!